Crash and Burn
by Mlaia3
Summary: A traveling Orc and her pet have a bad run-in en route to Chiselgrip. One-shot.


Hekili Sunderarrow petted the large wolf by her side, her companion's tongue lolling outside of its fanged maw. The orc smiled as she continued to pat her pet.

The heat of the Burning Steppes bore down upon the hunter and pet, the black stone underfoot (and underpaw) hotter than the heavy, humid air. The air was even hotter than average, and the sky seemed to be darkening early, sinister black clouds forming above the searing landscape. Perhaps it would rain for once, that'd be nice until the humidity shot through the roof.

She'd removed most of the armor from the wolf, one of her only companions since Northrend and her mount, a faithful companion as she always thought.

Chiselgrip was coming into sight. She should've taken a Wind Rider to the town, but she'd decided against it, instead choosing the adventurous way of sneaking through the Blackrock passageway.

The orc continued to walk, removing her hand from the white wolf's head. The beast continued to trot at her side, tongue still lolling from its maw as its bushy tail wagged back and forth, rushing forward to bury its muzzle in the orc's hand and licking at it.

She chuckled, petting the wolf. "You're such a good boy Rehj," she cooed, stopping briefly to pet him some more.

The arrows in the stocked to the brim quiver on her back shifted as she leaned down to rub the ash-stained wolf's belly, the wolf obediently laying down and rolling onto his back.

Rehj suddenly whimpered, jerking back onto his paws and whimpering steadily. "What's wrong boy?" Hekili asked, raising a black eyebrow at her companion.

The wolf whimpered again as the sky turned a more vivid shade of red and the clouds seemed to condense, spread, and turn an even darker shade of red.

"Rehj, what's wrong boy? What is it? Is something there?"

The wolf yelped, darting off towards one of the mountainsides. "Rehj! Boy! Come back here bo-!" An earsplitting roar pierced the sky, almost demonic sounding and so very loud.

Hekili lost her balance, landing face-first into the ashy rock below her, coughing as screams filled the air. Something bit lightly into her arm, dragging her off slowly as she coughed, blinking ash out of her brown eyes.

The air seemed to rise dramatically in temperature, sweat touching the ash and creating a sickly gray colored and odd feeling liquid that ran down her face, further blinding her from what was going on. Something still bit into her arm and was dragging her off.

"RUN!"

"FLEE!"

"WE'RE DOOMED!"

Shouts, yells, screams, and cries for mercy rang in the air, an odd swooshing sound a background for the noises.

"IT'S THE DESTROYER!"

She groaned, blinking her eyes open despite the stinging burn that happened when she did. Her eyes swiveled to the bright flames that filled the air, and the massive shape that was causing them.

Deathwing looked almost demonic, even as smoke filled the sky she could make out some of the areas that seemed to have magma brimming through cracks, she could make out the massive head that spat the flames out in a continuous stream. Orcs rarely feared things, but she felt ice cold terror run through her veins as she scrambled and struggled to stand, Rehj releasing his grip on her now-bleeding arm. "REHJ! Run boy!"

The wolf yelped, running forward a few yards before looking back at his only half up master, whimpering and yelping loudly for her.

She managed to start running, but the flames were closing in, she couldn't even see Chiselgrip through the flames and smoke, and the flames were rapidly closing in on her. She screamed as she lost her balance, pain shooting through her leg after a soft crack, not even heard over all the other noise.

She screamed again, Rehj howling and yelping loudly.

Pain shot through her legs, she felt only searing pain as the leathers and scales she wore were burnt to ashes, as the flesh was seared black. She screamed, tears rushing down her face as the flames spread to her torso. Rehj, who'd been far enough from the fire to not catch on fire, whimpered, rushing forward and nuzzling her, whimpering as she weakly raised a smoldering, gloved hand to lightly hit his muzzle, tears still rushing down her face.

"Rehj… run!"

The wolf whimpered, howling again before turning around and fleeing.

She screamed again the fires burnt her, so much of her skin charred black. She was still alive, a miracle in its own right, but she was in so much pain. Agony shot through every fiber of her being, pain beyond belief.

It felt as if every last fiber of her had been doused in whatever was used in Sulfuron Slammers and goblin rocket fuel, burning painfully with no end in sight.

Seconds seemed to be minutes, her breathing becoming ragged as the coloration of the sky faded back to its original color.

She weakly looked up, as if looking for a savior, and all she saw was a Black dragon, not even a quarter of the size of the behemoth Destroyer, that, if her memories of her time aiding the Wyrmrest Accord still served her, was laughing. The large, sinewy Black dragon was _laughing_ at her, not going in to finish her off, simply laughing. And laughing. And laughing.

Her face fell into the ashy ground, eyes blank as her ragged breathes stopped, her body still flaming and smoldering in most places as the fires moved to her head, the scent of burning hair filling the air around her.


End file.
